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A teenager from Australia has appeared in court after allegedly vandalizing a large art piece of a mythical creature by affixing plastic eyes to it.

The 19-year-old, aged 19, appeared via phone at Mount Gambier Magistrates Court in South Australia on Tuesday, charged with one count of damaging property.

Officials commented at the moment of the September incident, the local council said that surveillance video showed a person placing artificial eyes on the artwork, which residents have nicknamed the “Blue Blob”.

The accused did not enter a plea and informed the court she was unwell, as reported by news outlets, with the magistrate recommending her to secure a legal representative before her upcoming hearing in December.

The following day the reported event, the city leader said that restoration to the much-loved public artwork would be expensive as the stickers were impossible to be detached without harming the sculpture.

“This intentional vandalism to a valued public artwork is unacceptable and disrespectful,” City of Mount Gambier mayor remarked in mid-September. “It is not harmless fun, it is pricey - it is also frustrating to those members of our society who have welcomed the Blue Blob.”

The mayor added the council would seek the “substantial” restoration expenses from those accountable for the vandalism.

At the time the sculpture was first proposed, it drew varied responses from the local community due to its price tag and appearance.

Costing A$136,000 ($89,000; sixty-eight thousand pounds), the artwork represents a legendary giant animal, with the sculpture’s designers influenced by an prehistoric anteater-like marsupial found in nearby caverns that was “huge, slow-moving, and intriguing”.